“People were coming and going in great numbers, and they had no opportunity even to eat.” (Mark 6:31)
The disciples returned from their missionary experience, tired but full of joy! They couldn’t wait to tell Jesus about the response of the people they preached to and the healings and exorcisms. But the crowds were too much. There was no place to rest and talk or even eat! So Jesus says: “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.”
The Church is wise in offering yearly retreats for it’s ministers. I loved going on a yearly retreat with my brother deacons. Usually we went for a weekend at some monastery or retreat house, away from the hustle and bustle of the Big City (New York). There was always a great Retreat Master, who gave us a series of spiritual talks and we prayed, relaxed and ate together for three days. When it was over, we felt refreshed and happy to begin serving the Lord at the parish again.
Jesus and His disciples climbed into a boat and traveled across the lake to a quiet place. But the people would not let Jesus alone, they wanted to hear Him, and also to obtain cures for themselves and their loved ones. So they ran around the lake following the boat with their eyes and came to the very place where Jesus and His disciples embarked. What a surprise! But, of course, Our Lord knew this would happen and His heart was moved with pity for them and began to teach them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.
Jesus is not a micro-manager! He came to earth to do the Father’s Will. He came to redeem the human race with His very life! That means that if there was no time to rest, so be it! In those short thirty-three years of His life on earth, He would give His all! The poor disciples probably didn’t understand all this. They just wanted a place to eat and rest, a place of solitude.
Solitude, calm, tranquility - these never last for very long! In fact, as long as we have not yet come to the place of eternal rest, where the Father resides, the time spent in contemplation is but one step on our journey: all too soon, we must once again return to service and preaching. It was similar for Jesus and his disciples. A great crowd ran up to hear the Master and to receive from him a few words of consolation, and, perhaps, the cure for some disease or infirmity. The apostles join the crowd, they continue to receive instruction from Him who is eternal Wisdom: in fact, what the disciples of Christ teach, here and there, is always but a rough outline of this great discourse which only the incarnate Word could have made, for he alone is the Word of God!
Deacon John
http://www.google.com/profiles/deaconjohn1987
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